cattle prods

[memanpa]

no alice not mouth to Gods ear!

but his experence to good use!

oh i know your ancestors were top dairy men! that makes you the resident expert!
you bottlefeed calves that makes you an expert on handling stubborn livestock.

do not get me wrong i do not advocate the indiscriminate use of a prod, their use is a tool, nothing less nothing more!
if a salebarn does not use one it is a real rareity and i do not see how they can be moving very many head thru.
TIME IS MONEY.

your friend at the salebarn that does not use a prod ends up being your brother? i find that strange that you did not tell us that before, and only slipped it in after a burr was put under your tail.

 

[Alice]

no alice not mouth to Gods ear!

but his experence to good use!

oh i know your ancestors were top dairy men! that makes you the resident expert!
you bottlefeed calves that makes you an expert on handling stubborn livestock.

do not get me wrong i do not advocate the indiscriminate use of a prod, their use is a tool, nothing less nothing more!
if a salebarn does not use one it is a real rareity and i do not see how they can be moving very many head thru.
TIME IS MONEY.

your friend at the salebarn that does not use a prod ends up being your brother? i find that strange that you did not tell us that before, and only slipped it in after a burr was put under your tail.

No, the man at the sale barn that will not allow the use of the prod...ends up being a good friend of my brother's. Reread!

Ya' know, some of you are really adept at twisting words to suit your purpose, reading things in to something that's not there or ever been there.

I'm done with this thread. Keep hammering away...enjoy yourselves. Good day.

Alice

 

[KMacGinley]

I've worked a lot of cattle over the years and have never touched a Hotshot. I have bought salebarn cattle and moved them through chutes and never touched a hotshot. I have loaded cattle on pots and never touched a hotshot. I have watched Some people use hotshots that used them right. I have also seen the Jeffrey Dahmer types use them. People would have fit right in as a guard at Auswitz.
You do not need to use a hotshot to handle cattle, you need to have well built, intelligently built facility and have some idea of cattle psychology. I found out a long time ago, that using patience gets you farther than brute force or pain. Cattle that are wild seem to move away willingly enough, so who do you really need to use a hotshot on? The tame ones? Offer them some bagged feed, that should do it.

Now, if you use a hotshot sparingly, like in an emergency, fine, but you beginners, learn how to work cattle right, don't start out shocking them.

 

[C HOLLAND]

I think this whole post got side tracked, The question as I understood it was for a small farm, do you use or need a HOT SHOT (cattle prod)

And the answer is not the same for everyone, no one can handle another person cattle as easy as the owner (normally) The art of handling cattle for me has been a learning experience. I also know that the WILD ones I see at the barn are not getting loaded on my trailer for the trip home, but that doesn't mean that this little cute 700 lb heifer that I just bought won't cause me grief when I take her home. Most all the cows I have brought home didn't just walk off the trailer and cooperate with me in the corral. I take time with them to let them know I am their source of feed and water and in time they calm down.

The sale barn is another story and they are like most people have said TIME IS MONEY and they want them in and out of the ring ASAP

JMO for what it's worth ;-)

 

[6M Ranch]

Just like dealing with your kids, negative reinforcement will work. But, the next time down the alley, they'll remember, and associate that with a shock. They're often worse the next time. We use a hot shot, but only as a last resort. We also like to give them some grain when they're in the squeeze being worked. Positive reinforcement.

 

[MikeC]

My cows like getting shocked. :shock:

I know it for a fact because some will balk and stop in the chute leading to the squeeze and wait for me to shock them. :lol:

But once is always enough!

 

[aplusmnt]

Tail twisting must be an art form. We haacow that no matter how much I crank on her tail she balks at the chute until she's ready to walk in. The last time we worked them, 2 others besides myself twisted her tail and she just stood there. One guy reached over and just grabbed the tail and she shot into the chute, usually she just walks in at her own speed. I saw him have the same success with a couple of others that the rest of us couldn;t move.

dun

They might not move when you twist that tail, but one thing you can count on for sure is they will remember it is time to take a crap once you touch it.

 

[C HOLLAND]

My cows like getting shocked. :shock:

I know it for a fact because some will balk and stop in the chute leading to the squeeze and wait for me to shock them. :lol:

But once is always enough!

Yeah, but those are not real cows, they are the wrong color anyway. :lol: :lol: and all they do is hog up all the feed at the BULL TEST at Auburn too.

 

[somn]

I've worked a lot of cattle over the years and have never touched a Hotshot. I have bought salebarn cattle and moved them through chutes and never touched a hotshot. I have loaded cattle on pots and never touched a hotshot. I have watched Some people use hotshots that used them right. I have also seen the Jeffrey Dahmer types use them. People would have fit right in as a guard at Auswitz.
You do not need to use a hotshot to handle cattle, you need to have well built, intelligently built facility and have some idea of cattle psychology. I found out a long time ago, that using patience gets you farther than brute force or pain. Cattle that are wild seem to move away willingly enough, so who do you really need to use a hotshot on? The tame ones? Offer them some bagged feed, that should do it.

Now, if you use a hotshot sparingly, like in an emergency, fine, but you beginners, learn how to work cattle right, don't start out shocking them.

Well then as an expert in loading wild western calves and yearlings onto cattle pots tell me how do you get 8 head of crazy 500 pounders that have only seen people for the first time at yesterdays roundup to go down into the nose and stay down there long enough for you to get into that same pen to throw the counter balance down without using a hotshot? An even better question is how do you think you will get them into the doghouse without using one? Just how are you going to get those four calves that are standing in an 15 x 8 ft. pen to go to the far corner of the pen then jump up a foot and a half into a 4 x 8 ft. pen that ends within their sight.

I would love to drag you out to Belle Fourche or Billings sometime and watch you load a 4 or 5 loads in a row without using one. Anyone that makes the claim that hotshots are worthless and shouldn't ever be used on cattle has by their own admission never seen very many truely wild cattle. And obviously they have never loaded a single one that was crazy into the nose or doghouse of a cattle pot.

 

[Caustic Burno]

Please forgive me, Mr. Burno...I continue to forget my place...it's always your mouth to God's ear.

Alice

No Alice your like a little fiest dog always barking to feel there butt hole wiggle. You just flat don't know what you are talking about when it come to a working cattle operation.
I don't know dairy's you don't find me yapping about them.
Try sticking to something you know about until you learn.

 

[alabama]

Please forgive me, Mr. Burno...I continue to forget my place...it's always your mouth to God's ear.

Alice

No Alice your like a little fiest dog always barking to feel there butt hole wiggle. You just flat don't know what you are talking about when it come to a working cattle operation.
I don't know dairy's you don't find me yapping about them.
Try sticking to something you know about until you learn.

Now now children, lets be nice.

 

[Andrew]

Man, I sure am glad I didn't bring up the bb gun I use to move cattle around.

 

[alabama]

Man, I sure am glad I didn't bring up the bb gun I use to move cattle around.

ROTFLMAO

 

[la4angus]

No Alice your like a little fiest dog always barking to feel there butt hole wiggle. You just flat don't know what you are talking about when it come to a working cattle operation.
I don't know dairy's you don't find me yapping about them.
Try sticking to something you know about until you learn.

Well said Caustic. I just don't believe that she will realize that you are talking to and about her. :lol:

 

[IluvABbeef]

I've used a hotshot before, and that was quite a few years ago, to move some calves that refused to keep moving in the shute. Then I was too stupid to not realize that I didn't need to use it all the time, but it sure helped move those critters purty quick.

We have a hotshot, but it don't work, tryed to fix it, but still no buzz. So I resort to Temple Grandin's rules of flight zone, tail twisting, and a sorting stick (or whip). All three work good, and of the first two, I haven't had a steer still not wanting to move when I twisted his tail yet.

The trucker that comes to pick up the calves uses a hotshot, and he only uses when it's absolutely neccessary, if one of the steers stop the flow and don't want to keep moving to get into the truck.

 

[LonghornRanch]

"A crazy yearling calf is worse than both of them put together"

CB is right, I got so frustrated with a crazy calf one time I had to shoot it, freezer meat. Time is money.

 

[KenB]

"A crazy yearling calf is worse than both of them put together"

CB is right, I got so frustrated with a crazy calf one time I had to shoot it, freezer meat. Time is money.

I agree, when its time to take a ride to the sale barn the hot shot is in between the sorting stick and the 30-06.

But when I am working the cattle that I am keeping it's sorting stick and patience.

 

[msscamp]

I've worked a lot of cattle over the years and have never touched a Hotshot. I have bought salebarn cattle and moved them through chutes and never touched a hotshot. I have loaded cattle on pots and never touched a hotshot. I have watched Some people use hotshots that used them right. I have also seen the Jeffrey Dahmer types use them. People would have fit right in as a guard at Auswitz.
You do not need to use a hotshot to handle cattle, you need to have well built, intelligently built facility and have some idea of cattle psychology. I found out a long time ago, that using patience gets you farther than brute force or pain. Cattle that are wild seem to move away willingly enough, so who do you really need to use a hotshot on? The tame ones? Offer them some bagged feed, that should do it.

Now, if you use a hotshot sparingly, like in an emergency, fine, but you beginners, learn how to work cattle right, don't start out shocking them.

:clap: :clap: :clap:

 

[Caustic Burno]

I've worked a lot of cattle over the years and have never touched a Hotshot. I have bought salebarn cattle and moved them through chutes and never touched a hotshot. I have loaded cattle on pots and never touched a hotshot. I have watched Some people use hotshots that used them right. I have also seen the Jeffrey Dahmer types use them. People would have fit right in as a guard at Auswitz.
You do not need to use a hotshot to handle cattle, you need to have well built, intelligently built facility and have some idea of cattle psychology. I found out a long time ago, that using patience gets you farther than brute force or pain. Cattle that are wild seem to move away willingly enough, so who do you really need to use a hotshot on? The tame ones? Offer them some bagged feed, that should do it.

Now, if you use a hotshot sparingly, like in an emergency, fine, but you beginners, learn how to work cattle right, don't start out shocking them.

:clap: :clap: :clap:

Cow Flop.

 

[Texan]

I believe that it's irresponsible for any cattleman not to own a working hotshot. There are just too many instances where the judicious use of a hotshot will save cattle that are down on the truck, down in the chute, down with a little bit of calving paralysis, etc. In many cases, no amount of "cattle psychology" will make one of those get up.

We've changed our attitudes about hotshots a lot in the last few years, though. Not too long ago, we had hotshots everywhere around the chute. There was always one within reach. Now we just keep one, in an out of the way place. That way, someone has to make an effort to use it, instead of it being done without thinking. Sorting sticks and paddles have replaced the rest of them.

My advice---

Own a working hotshot, but define success as never having to use it.